Immediate Benefits for All Restorative Procedures

After Nate Lawson, DMD, MA, PhD, completed his doctorate in biomedical/medical engineering at the University of Alabama at Brimingham in 2012, he went into private practice for a short period before returning to the university's dental school as a clinical and laboratory evaluator of dental materials. "I am now the director of our division of biomaterials," he says. "Aside from researching and evaluating dental materials, I also work as a general dentist in our faculty practice."

When it comes to selecting tools and technologies to support restorative procedures, Lawson's criteria are as straightforward as they are for materials. "I want dental equipment to be practical to use and present a proven benefit," he says. "Sometimes, benefits can only be revealed by research, and other times, they can be determined from clinical use."

One device that Lawson has found to provide many benefits to restorative work is the Zyris Isolite^® dental isolation system. "I inherited several boxes of Isolite mouthpieces from a retiring dentist," he says. "So, I bought a package of adapters so that I could try out the system in our research clinic. Working in an academic setting, I often work without an assistant, so the Isolite became invaluable."

The Isolite dental isolation system features a patented mouthpiece design that retracts the tongue and cheek for continuous, hands-free isolation while providing dual-channel suction control that removes fluids from both sides of the mouth simultaneously, ensuring a dry field throughout procedures. "The fact that the Isolite can provide retraction and suction allows me to move through my procedures without breaks," Lawson says. "When my assistant is providing retraction and suction, I need to take breaks whenever the mirror and saliva ejector are removed from the patient's mouth. However, with the Isolite in place, my assistant can hand me instruments, materials, or burs while retraction and suction are maintained. In addition, the Isolite features a flexible and comfortable mouthpiece design with an integrated bite block that makes it easier for my patients to keep their mouths open for entire procedures."

Although the Isolite can help improve safety and efficiency for all restorative dental treatments, it can be particularly beneficial to the outcomes of bonding procedures. Lawson emphasizes that the elimination of saliva is critical for adhesive bonding. "The Isolite can prevent saliva from pooling with its suction and also prevent saliva from touching tooth preparations based on its isolation features," he says. "Using a rubber dam is still the gold standard of isolation; however, rubber dam isolation requires a larger armamentarium and often takes longer to prepare and place. In addition, a rubber dam or its clamps can block access to matrix systems."

Lawson explains that beyond saliva, research studies have shown that humidity from the mouth can reduce the bond strength of dental adhesives. "We used a hygrometer to measure the intraoral humidity of a mouth with a rubber dam in place and a mouth with the Isolite in place and found the humidity to be similar, which was only slightly higher than that of ambient air. The humidity of a mouth without either rubber dam isolation or the Isolite was nearly 100%."

The Zyris Isolite Pro adds integrated illumination to the features of the device's core model, which further enhances efficiency. With 3 levels of bright, long-lasting LED illumination that provide both white light and a true amber light, it delivers unsurpassed shadowless visibility for dentists and their teams that overhead lights and headlamps cannot achieve. The amber light is designed to provide maximum visibility when placing light-sensitive materials, such as light-cure adhesives and composite resins, without beginning to cure them.

When asked why he thought the Isolite system was an overall must-have for restorative work, Lawson's answer was simple. "Isolite improves efficiency," he says. "Zyris has done the research to show that it reduces procedure times for things like placing sealants, delivering crowns, and performing periodontal treatments." Cutting procedure times can help increase the productivity of an entire practice and enable the performance of additional procedures to boost profitability. Lawson also mentions that Zyris is excellent to work with in terms of support. "Zyris has great programs available for academic centers and for others teaching in dental schools," he says. "I would suggest that any interested educators get in contact with the company."

For dentists in practice, particularly those who are hesitant to adopt new technologies, Lawson recommends trying the Isolite dental isolation system. "With many dental materials, the advantages of their mechanical and adhesive properties are not apparent until months or years after they are used," he says. "The advantages of the Isolite are apparent immediately."

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